Pepe Mel blew kisses to the crowd during West Bromwich Albion's lap of honour, and despite being tight-lipped on whether he will remain in charge at The Hawthorns his future appears to be sealed.

The Spaniard signed an 18-month contract in January, but West Brom inserted a clause which allowed them to part ways with only minimum compensation. That outcome appears the most likely before talks between the head coach and the club chairman, Jeremy Peace, scheduled for the next 48 hours.

Mel wore a resigned look when he spoke after this defeat by Stoke City. "I don't know," Mel said, when asked whether he would remain in charge. "I am going to have to listen to the chairman and find out what he wants for the future. Do I want to stay? Yes, but only in the knowledge that we have lots of possibilities for us to compete."

Albion are lining up Roy Hodgson's former No2 Terry Burton to return to the club to work alongside the sporting and technical director, Richard Garlick, on recruitment, but are understood to prefer a different head coach in the revamped setup. Mel's record of three wins and six draws from 17 games is worse than his predecessor Steve Clarke, while his time in charge has also been blighted by player unrest and the Nicolas Anelka quenelle gesture row.

"West Brom still have to decide whether they want as many problems next season as this one," Mel said. "I think this season is a big lesson for West Brom. We have to ask why West Brom have had so many problems this year."

The current turmoil is a contrast to a year ago when all was calm as Albion clinched eighth place under Clarke, their highest Premier League finish.

Meanwhile, Mark Hughes, in his first season as Stoke manager, has steered the club to their best Premier League points haul of 50 and their highest finish of ninth. Not since 1975 have they finished higher in the top flight. That Stoke have achieved this with a more aesthetic style will have further vindicated their decision to end Tony Pulis's reign last summer in search of a fresh direction.

"We talked at length at what we wanted to achieve," Hughes said. "Maybe some of the guys thought I was being unrealistic at the beginning of the season. To get 50 points on the board in the hardest league in the world is a great effort."

Stoke took the lead midway through the first half when Marko Arnautovic's low cross deflected off West Brom's Gareth McAuley into his own net. West Brom equalised early in the second half when the influential Stéphane Sessègnon timed his run into the penalty area perfectly to slide the ball home from Craig Dawson's cross.

A fine curling effort from Arnautovic which hit the post served notice of Stoke's determination to finish the campaign on a high and the winner arrived three minutes from time. A tired West Brom defence allowed the substitute Charlie Adam, who had been on the pitch for only six minutes, too much time and space and he fired a low shot into the net past the dive of the West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster.